While the Timberwolves are bringing back the majority of their core pieces from last season, there are some youngsters that are expected to receive more time. The one who is expected to see the biggest increase in playing time would be 25-year-old Terrence Shannon Jr. Can he keep up the momentum in his play this season that we saw at the end of the Western Conference finals? Could he actually contend for Sixth Man of the Year?
Most Sixth Men of the Year winners put up a bunch of points
Britt Robson has been covering the Timberwolves for numerous sites for quite some time. He currently is writing for the MinnPost. He recently sat down with Dane Moore on the Dane Moore NBA Podcast to discuss the team. They talked about a bevy of topics, and Robson had high praise for Shannon.
"There is a world where if everything lines up that TJ Shannon is a Sixth Man of the Year candidate…I can see him being a power forward in certain lineups, I can see him as someone who robs Naz (Reid) of some of his minutes in certain circumstances, because of pace," Robson said.
According to Basketball Reference, 33% of the 6-foot-6 Shannon’s minutes came at power forward last season as a rookie. So while he doesn’t look like your prototypical four, there are many instances where teams go with undersized lineups.
Shannon Jr. fits the mold of prior Sixth Man of the Year winners in that he is a scorer. Maybe it wasn’t seen at all times during the regular season, but he averaged 23 points in 2023-24 with Illinois. The 27th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft dropped 35 points in 37 minutes during the final 3 games of the Thunder series.
Now, it just remains to be seen if Shannon Jr. will see enough playing time to get his name in consideration for the award. Minnesota already rosters a previous Sixth Man of the Year award winner in Naz Reid. Donte DiVincenzo is another who will certainly see a bunch of time coming off the bench.
Yes, Minnesota did lose Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who averaged 25.3 minutes in 2024-25. It can’t just be assumed that Shannon Jr. will gobble up all those minutes though. Jaylen Clark should get more playing time too as well as Rob Dillingham.
Odds are long for Shannon Jr.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, a Timberwolves player has the best odds to win Sixth Man of the Year. That player is Reid at +1000 (tied for best with De’Andre Hunter of the Cavaliers and Ty Jerome of the Grizzlies).
There are 33 players (DiVincenzo being another) with better odds than Shannon Jr., who is at +7000. So he’s certainly a long shot, but his odds could improve rapidly if he scores at a double-digit pace to begin the year.